Over 63,000 households in Catawba County can now place clean and empty paper cups in recycling bins for curbside collection. Catawba County is the second community in North Carolina to expand its curbside recycling program and add paper cups, thanks to a partnership with the Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI), a leading industry association working to increase recovery of foodservice packaging.
In addition to paperboard cans, pizza boxes and other cardboard, metals, glass, and plastic cups and containers, Catawba County residents can now recycle hot and cold paper cups. This news is particularly noteworthy as paper cups were previously considered difficult to recycle due to their plastic lining. “We’re excited to join this initiative to expand curbside recycling programs and add paper cups to our acceptable materials list. With this partnership, our community now has the opportunity to preserve valuable materials and prevent them from ending up in landfills,” said Ariel Kanupp, Waste Reduction Coordinator for Catawba County.
Catawba County will launch an outreach campaign to inform residents of what is recyclable through the expanded program and remind them that all recyclables should be clean and empty when placed in recycling carts. The county will kick off the campaign on April 29 at the City of Hickory’s Green Fest, where it will have a booth showcasing the flyers and brochures, along with other promotional items. The campaign will also feature a recycling education video, social media and digital advertisements with support from a communications grant from FPI.
“We are proud to partner with innovative communities, like Catawba County, to increase recycling efforts by adding paper cups to residential recycling programs and raising awareness about recycling foodservice packaging items,” said Natha Dempsey, president of the Foodservice Packaging Institute. “FPI will continue to work with additional communities in North Carolina and throughout the nation, as well as haulers, material recovery facilities and mills, to divert even more paper cups and other foodservice packaging from landfills.”
Catawba County sends its collected recyclables to Republic’s materials recovery facility (MRF) in Conover, North Carolina, where the cups are recovered and baled with other paper to be converted into new products, promoting circularity in the region and contributing to the local economy.